Product: Collings Baby
Price Paid: USD 2100. USED
Submitted
06/07/2009
at
10:44am
by
Wm Paul Marseglia
Email: wpmars<at>atlanticbb dot net
Features
:
No Opinion
About a year old, 14 frets, no electronic, not too shinny surface. Rosewood back and sides with Spruce top, Ebony fingerboard, Nice Waverly Butterbean Tuners in Chrome. Case is solid and well made and very protective of the guitar. Bought used and zero accessories
came with the 2100. plus 180. for shipping across the country and I paid the 80. Paypal fee.
Sound
:
10
This guitar is perfect in every way for what it is. The sound formula is full but you know you are playing a small base lacking guitar. But is it a songwriters guitar only? No way, you get a guitar that keeps on giving and wont stop. I have a DC28 Martin 2007 and this guitar sound good sometimes. The Collings sounds good all the time. The Collings Baby hits the sweet spot with balanced mid-range and nice trebles and suprizing bass for it size. Bright with good mids is the best desciption but yet rich and the sound attacks with pleasing torque
that does not lag behind. I churns out crisp volume for it size and it is diffiuclt to imagin anything that could be improve in the sound package
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
10
The guitar was in my opinion not fooled with by the previous two owners. I really believe that this guitar was made to to play Valentines Day with the hands and fingers. All in all this is a highly thought out design and build to bring on angelic tones. Plus make the player feel like he may not ever put his hand on anything better. Love at first site really and a big happy gust of fresh air to boot. And a side of real intrigue.
Reliability/Durability
:
10
It is so well made that I am worried that it will get damaged and will be unable to replace it.
If the auditorium had two in padding in every nook and cranny, I might take it out of the case. Will the guitar last? Longer than the majority of them based on its sturdy construction.
Customer Support
:
10
The Collings Support team is second to none. Both male and female know the intricacies
and nuances of their instruments and are glad to help even before you buy. The lady I spoke to told me to jump on the deal I found and I never will say she was less than 150% right about that.
Overall Rating
:
10
play stagnantly for 44 plus years. In the past three years I have purchased a Fender Custom Shop Stradocaser, A Martin DC28, a 1894 Eugene Howard parlour guitar and this incredable
Collings. I have a small effects amp for the Fender, the Fender Automatic.
Product: Collings Baby
Price Paid: 2195 (GBP)
Submitted
04/12/2004
at
07:16am
by
Louis
Email: none
Features
:
8
This is a late 2003 Collings Baby made in Austin Texas. As the name implies, the baby is a sub-000 small sized guitar. Construction is as follows: 14 fret to the neck, solid spruce top, solid rosewood back and sides, mahogony neck, ebondy finger board (unbound), ebony bridge, open back Waverley tuners. Bracing is scalloped.
Sound
:
9
The sound completely belies its size. Very loud middle and trebles, with losts of sustain but inevitably, for such a small bodied guitar, little in the way of bass. Actually, I thought this sounded louder than the Collings 00-2H which I 'A-B'd it against in the store. I play a lot of acoustic folk (from the 60s and 70s) and this guitar is plenty loud enough to accompany me.
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
10
It is a Collings. This guitar is really a piece of fine jewellry that you can play. I have no hesitation with giving it top marks. I did not even have to have it set-up - it plays fine straight from the shop. Surprisingly for such a small guitar the neck is actually a 14-fret join and feels superb. I prefer playing it to my Lowden 032 which is also a heckofa nice guitar (btw).
Reliability/Durability
:
10
Construction is solid, all surfaces are perfectly seated and finished. There is a natural tendency to treat is carefully because of its size but it certainly does not feel fragile, at all. I believe that Joni Mitchell (or is it Emmylou Harris) tours with one?
Customer Support
:
10
Very nice people. I e-mailed to get some background on this particular instrument (e.g. when it was built) and I had a pleasant and helpful reply the next day. I bought this from an authorised reseller in the UK and I would expect to have any warranty or production issues dealt with professionally.
Overall Rating
:
9
OK, clearly this is a helluva chunk of change to shell out on such a specialised guitar. All I can say is that since I first played one, back in 1997 (probably one of the first) I've wanted one. First of all because of its size it is a very intimate guitar, the kind of guitar you pick up and noodle on for hours. Secondly, its a Collings, e.g. one of the top 3 luthiers in the world (counting Lowden and Goodall as part of the trinity), so lets face it, its build quality and sound are excellent. Thirdly, it is a highly individual guitar. Your friends don't have one, hell, very few people in the world even have one. So if you want to stand out from the crowd, as well as have a really nice guitar to play on, this is it. Every guitarist has their holy grail, this one became mine. I'm not saying that this is an ideal guitar for all fingerstyle/acoustic guitarists. In fact, it is my Lowden 032 that I rely on as my workhorse. The Baby is just unique. My only hesitation in giving it a 10 is that it is highly specialised and it will not appeal to all.
